SOLAR FIRE

When people think of what Prog rock sounded like in the 70s, most people would think of either the more symphonic stuff of Renaissance or Genesis, and or the jazzy stuff of Gentle Giant or Van Der Graaf Generator. Most people won't really think of the more space rock side of things unless they are fans of Gong or Pink Floyd. Space rock style of Prog has existed since the 60s but never really caught on with the scene until the 70s, and even then it wouldn't be the most popular bunch of music until like the 2000s. Not to say it wasn't influential, but it wasn't what most people would gravitate towards 'less we talk about Pink Floyd. Though, while the scene wasn't as grand as some may say others are, it still brought about some great albums and songs, especially on today's subject of Solar Fire.

I have known about Manfred Mann's Earth Band for a bit, but never had interest diving into them, not until I heard their cover of Bob Dylan's Father of Night, which is also on this album. I am not a Bob Dylan fan, but I take any chance I can get in hearing a good cover of his music. This is one of my favorite Dylan covers now, and it's impressive a band can make a minute and a half song be extended to 9 minutes long. It made me grow interested in listening to the rest of this album since it was such a good cover.

However, that song is probably the only really big number on this album. While the songs here aren't bad to me, I feel as though the band raised the bar of expectations really high to where they couldn't meet expectations. Songs such as Pluto The Dog or Earth The Circle parts 2 and 1 do not hit the same marks that Father Of Day, Father Of Night gave. What you get here though is some fairly well made hard progressive rock standards. You get a lot of songs that sound very close to groups like Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple, but obviously with a more progressive twist. In The Beginning, Darkness is a number that really does sound very good in the hard rock camp in my opinion, and with the few meddlings of the more progressive flavors, it does sound good.

I think what this album excels at is the general fun flavor the band exudes. They aren't clearly trying to be big and epic, but they aren't being wild or crazy either. They kinda just do what they feel like, and that is honestly really respectful since you'll know their work will be of quality and be generally good. However, my main issue with this fact is that the more I listen to this album the more apparent it is that they aren't gonna be as groundbreaking as say Camel or Alan Parsons Project. Really, I compare them more to Nektar, being this generally good Prog rock sound that never really extends past the good markings. It's not something I hate with all my heart, but I cannot help but feel the band have missed some opportunities within what they could've done.

Solar Fire, to me, is great at best, and good at worst, but never a complete masterpiece. It is an album that I think can work well introducing new people into Prog Rock, but as a piece of music that can extend the boundaries of what music can be, I am sorry but you can find a lot more out there. Sorry for the disrespect, but I think it should be said to some degree.